[The Second Take] South Korea Experiencing Collective Trauma

The Fishing Village in 'Achimbada Galmaegi' Suffers from Trauma
Not Just Individual, but Collective Symptoms
Rooted in Various Social Issues
Anxiety Spreads Across South Korea
Silence Only Increases Pain... Stories Must Be Shared

The fishing village residents in the movie 'Achimbada Galmaegi' each carry their own trauma. Youngguk (Yoon Joo-sang) lost his second daughter. It was a tragedy that occurred while trying to stop her from moving to the city. Yeongran (Kazakh) is a Vietnamese immigrant woman. She has been deeply hurt by the hypocrisy and falsehoods of her neighbors. Her mother-in-law Panrye (Yang Hee-kyung) does not understand. She only worries about her missing son. The accumulating conflicts explode all at once.

"I can't live here. They say we have to leave because the man died." "Who died?" "Then why don't they come? I can't understand the language well here, and people just laugh and say I'm doing well. I live alone, my mother is sick, and I'm scared. They call me a prostitute, people!"

This is not just personal trauma. Trauma is always relational. The impact on one person affects not only the family but also the community and culture. The resentment, pain, and bitterness conveyed in 'Achimbada Galmaegi' stem from various social issues: regional extinction, population decline, elderly poverty, discrimination against migrant foreigners, and administrative convenience.

Sociologist Kai Erikson defined collective trauma in his book 'Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood' as "shattering the community’s sense of safety and support, striking at our fundamental sense of belonging."

Clinical psychologist Edith Shiro also expressed a similar view in her book 'Trauma and Recovery.' "Individual trauma is a rupture in the assumptions about the world and one’s place in it, but collective trauma is a crisis that questions the identity and belief system of the entire group. (Omitted) It appears as fragments of a shared collective history, causing division and isolation and dismantling the structures that make up culture."

An uneasy atmosphere flows throughout South Korea. Although the emergency martial law on December 3 was lifted after six hours, many citizens still feel fear and anxiety. This too is trauma. It can overwhelm people just by hearing or reading the news headlines. Trauma arises not from the event itself but from how it is interpreted, the resources available to cope with it, and the way it is managed.

This inevitably leads to disconnection. It destroys connections with various networks and breaks the sense of belonging. It can cause a loss of basic self-awareness. It shakes not only self-esteem but also trust in others’ kindness, safety, intimacy, and even understanding of death and loss.

Silence only increases the pain. Sharing stories is necessary to overcome suffering and make progress. A community is a group of people who share a history of trauma. To heal, one must reconcile with the shared past and integrate it into the present. Only then can one move forward without being trapped by past pain and free future generations from the cycle of trauma. Just as Youngguk washes away his trauma and paves the way for Yeongran and Panrye’s future.